Some of the kids at Rocktoberfest

Let's have a Hand for the Performing Arch

Photo by Sean Adcock

The 'opening' takes centre stage at Rocktoberfest 2011

Celebration in Stone

On Thanksgiving Monday near the close of four days of building and celebrating at the Canadian Dry Stone Wall Festival in Caledon Ontario, Shannon Kingsbury and the Royal Family played for the audience of wallers and visitors gathered for the inaugural concert inside the Venus Gate Amphitheatre which was completed (including all the sod being laid and all the stones cleaned up) only minutes before the outdoor performance began.
Garden Path


Over the four days of Rocktoberfest various participants rebuilt and completed more than 100 feet of free standing dry stone wall, built a 3 tiered amphitheatre with an arched entrance way, balanced stones, created a dry stack telescope, a 6 foot high free standing plinth and moved many many tons of rocks. There were children's stone sculpture activities, delicious meals, snacks, beer, tool displays, walking tour displays, Cd's, maps of local walls, live music, presentations, guided tours, t-shirts, art booths, free on-site accommodation and local billeting, camping, food venders, evening presentations and saunas and even swimming !

Thanks to everyone who made this year's Canadian dry stone wall festival such an amazing success.

Mary 

Colin

Willa

Eric

Thea

Norman

Dave

Sean

Evan

Akira

Jason

Menno

Doug

Steve

Mike

Dave

Bill

Jacqui

Gavin

Stephen

Hilary

Jordan

Ryan

Mike

Carol

Lee

Phil

John

Carlan

Scott

Dan

Robin

Colin

Patrick

Mike 

Fraser

Margot

Mary

Shannon

Colin

Rolph

Ryan

Mariana

Marco

Richard
Cameron

Laura

Joe

Oliver

Susan

Shim
Ken

Chris

Peter

Matt

Randy and Craig of Trow and Holden Tools

Bill of F and M Brewery

Glen Windrem Trucking

Bill and Lorri of the Emerald Group

Upper Canada Minerals

and a wonderful bunch of walling students and other volunteers.....

An amazing gathering of stones and people

Participators in this year's festival numbering in the several hundreds Saturday collectively enjoyed the sounds and sites and seemed to become one with the stones and their surroundings

25 students participated in the first day of the three beginner workshops being held this Saturday and Sunday of the festival

 The Venus gate entrance and the circular stone seating is nearly two thirds completed. 

 One of the several miniature structures children (and grown ups) are building each afternoon of the festival

Harpist Shannon Kingsbury and Tuba player Colin Couch both from Guelph Ontario shared some amazing music with us as the late afternoon shadows danced across the space we were all gathered.

And the feature meal event, a prime rib dinner, served up by Colin Shaw-Rimmington to sixty-four hungry walling participants, was something beyond delicious it was over the moon.

Activity begins at Rocktoberfest 2011

Festival planners Bill and Jaquci Jeffers watch over the afternoon walling activity with two other helpers. 

 Work is continuing on the Venus gate and the amphitheatre with many people working together in friendly collaboration

 Roelf Zantinge gives the first musical performance in the as yet unfinished dry stone amphitheatre

 Norman Haddow prepares the student wall for the two day class he and three other instructors will be teaching.

Akira Evan Oliver John and Norman pushed down a huge stone into the exact position it needed to be for the base of the the cheekend they were building

 Thea Alvin measures if the telescope bench they are building is level enough.

 The curved amphitheatre benches and the diagonal entrance gates are starting to take shape.

 Peter Reidel is balancing local stones by the truckload.

 Dave Goulder gave a concert on his carry-on sized guitar

 He entertains those on the build who are not off having a tea break with Norman.

End of the day concert. Mr Bo Jangles.

Salad Days

Sean Adcock and his wife Brenda arrived in Toronto for Rocktoberfest late last night. They flew in from Kentucky where Sean had just finished up judging the dry stone wall competition run by the Stone Conservancy. 


Sean told me he was very hungry.  When we met up at the pub it was past ten o'clock and the kitchen was closed. None of the pubs in the Caledon area were serving food that late either so we drove on to the festival site at Hart House Farm to see if we could find something to snack on there. 


Our son Colin who is a professional chef, and has been preparing meals for the festival for the last week, was still working in the kitchen getting things ready for the next four days of meals and snacks to be served during our Rocktoberfest weekend. He kindly offered to whip something up for the hungry vegetarian even though it was on very short notice. The salad plate looked fantastic. 


We feel it's not enough just to run professionally taught workshops and have interesting speakers come as well as plan for unusual structures to be built at these events. Ever since the first Rocktoberfest in Port Hope in 2003 we have continued to put a big emphasis on providing a beautiful pastoral setting to work in, appropriate live musical accompaniment and special gourmet meals each day too, so that the stone workers and wallers who come to demonstrate their craft  are well taken care of and always enjoy participating at these Canadian dry stone wall festivals.

Other Rocktoberfest Guests

We are very happy to have Thea Alvin from Vermont joining us at Rocktoberfest this Thanksgiving Weekend at Hart House farm near Caledon Ontario. She is going to be building a a dry stone telescoping Bench. Hmmm.







We are also pleased to have Jason Hoffman of 

 with us from Edinburgh Scotland. He will be helping us build the dry stone amphitheatre over the four days of the festival.

Dave Goulder

Dave Goulder is a singer song writer dry stone waller. He and his wife Mary and live in Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands. Dave came to Canada and taught a workshop at our very first Rocktoberfest back in 2004. (Pictured above in the blue overalls) 


We are very pleased to announce that he is returning this year to teach a beginners course along with Norman Haddow. Akira Inman and Evan Oxland both having their intermediate certification and taken the instructors training course held in Vermont last winter will be assisting Dave and Norman.

Dave produced a very successful film a while back called How To Build and Repair Dry Stone Walls, A 60-minute video/DVD explaining the basic principles of dry stone walling. Filmed in Scotland and the Cotswolds you can order it from the Dry Stone Walling Association, DSWA.

I met up with Dave again at a DSWA AGM gathering in England last December and invited him and Mary to our festival. It was there too that I obtained his newest CD which is a collection of songs and poems about dry stone walling which you will want to get a copy of when you come to Hart House Farm this coming weekend to hear him sing on Sunday night at Rocktoberfest.

Mariana Cook

Dry Stone Walls, Personal Boundaries is Mariana Cook's newest book of photography. She and her husband are coming up from the States to attend Rocktoberfest this year, where she will be giving a talk about her work Saturday night. I talked with her on the phone last week. She told me the book sales are going very well. It really is a stunning book and covers a variety of interesting wall styles in several different countries. Copies will be available at the festival.

Mariana talked about her fascination in dry stone walls and when I asked if she found that she was more interested in walls and walling now that she had completed the book she said yes definitely, and that she was planning to take more pictures especially of the ones in the Martha's Vineyard area where their farm is.

We got on to the subject of dry stone walling as an art form. The vernacular aesthetic of farm walls are more the thing that interests her. Being able to read the personality through the individual characteristics of the stones placed in a wall that remains standing long after it's builder is gone. If the wall style is too controlled as in certain art installations she admitted that, for her it tends to be far less satisfying to look at.

As for having any interest in learning how to build a wall, the answer was "not at all". She thought that she was not strong enough and that the process might prove too dull for her. Her visit to Kentucky to see a walling workshop revealed a lot of the process of building a dry stone wall to be organizing of materials and labourious prep work .

"As with photography and a lot of other crafts, its 90% labour and 10 % inspiration. I am passionate about making the photographs so willing to spend all those hours developing negatives, making contact sheets and prints. And enjoying the process even though it might be dull to someone else. Another person is passionate about building stone walls and finds the preparations repetitive but they don't mind doing it because they love the touch of the stone, the moving of it. You have to be passionate about something enough to do and find some pleasure in any craft's tedium. And I don't think the 90% tedium gets you to the inspiration part. If you didn't begin with the inspiration, who would do the work with the promise at the end... It's not as if the 90% were all wretched and the 10% all marvelous.... The creative process isn't organized like a cake with your favorite part in one place and not so favorite someplace else"

Mariana Cook

Limestone Field

Inis Meáin, Ireland

5 July 2005 

Bridge and Festival Hopping

Gavin makes sure the walls stay upright 

and the paths are in good repair in The Lake District. 

My good friend Gavin Rose a path builder currently based in the Lake District, England working for the National Trust will also be joining us at Rocktoberfest this year. He has helped me at four of the seven bridge workshops in Canada that the DSWAC has run over the last eight years and he and I are hoping to one day be able to build a dry stone bridge in the Lake District. 


He will be assisting me in the Little Long Lake Bridge course we are holding near Perth Ontario which is going to be run shortly after our Thanksgiving Festival north of Toronto. (There are still two spots available for this bridge workshop – write mcclaryharris@sympatico.ca for details)


Speaking of festivals, Gavin very recently attended the Inis Oirr Dry Stone Walling Festival in Ireland. Included here is his report with photos of this event which he just sent me.

On the weekend of Sept 23- 25 this year I had the good fortune to be invited to the Inis Oirr Dry Stone Walling Festival. For those unfamiliar with this part of the world, Inis Oirr is one of three islands that form the Aran Isles off the West Coast of County Galway in the Republic of Ireland. These islands are renowned for their intricate system of dry stone field walls, which have their origins in neolithic times and have continually been in use up to the present day. The wall system dominates the entire landscape, and the diversity of walling styles found within it is in all probability unique.




To promote interest in this rich heritage, the County of Galway has sponsored a walling workshop on Inis Oirr that will now be run on an annual basis. Two of the main organisers are Patrick McAfee, an internationally recognised expert on traditional building techniques, and Marie Mannion, Galway County Council's Heritage Officer. Participants of the three day event came from all over Ireland, along with Nick Aitken - a master waller from Scotland - and myself - a path builder currently based in the Lake District, England working for the National Trust.

This year's project was to replace an expediently built mortared wall standing in front of the island cooperative with a more traditional dry laid structure. With instruction from Pat, Nick, myself and other experienced wallers - including an islander known for his mastery of the local styles - approximately 50 participants were taught basic dry stone construction techniques by building a local type of wall known as Feidin. With this wall, very large stones - roughly resembling grave stones in shape and size - are set vertically at 4-5 foot intervals perpendicular to the wall face, thus dividing the wall into segments that can then be worked on by a person on either side of the wall. Between these stones, who's local Gaelic name translates as 'mothers', a double skinned wall is made with smaller stones (children) being laid horizontally. Once the wall of 'children' has reached the height of the 'mothers' , very large vertical coping stones (fathers), are set in place. In addition to this, an adjacent wall was rebuilt during the workshop in a style similar to that commonly found in Britain except that instead of using through stones, larger stones were placed vertically at intervals along the wall - these stones are referred to as 'stitching'.

Over the weekend, talks on various aspects of dry stone walling were presented, with Patrick discussing the walls of the Aran Isles, Nick exploring the relationship in walling styles between Ireland, Scotland and Kentucky and mine being on the dry stone work the National Trust does in the Lake District. The two walls were successfully completed by Saturday afternoon with a celebratory pig roast held that evening. Our Sunday was devoted to touring the island with a local guide who explained Inis Oirr's history while showing us the island's varied and numerous stone structures. All in all a great time was had, with people being exposed to the island's traditions and culture, new walling skills being learnt and friendships being made. From the first day it was evident that many of the participants were taking part for their second, third or forth time, and after spending a weekend in such pleasant company, surrounded by Inis Oirr's spellbinding walls I can understand why. As I fondly recall singing ballads in the local pub with my fellow wallers after a satisfying day's work, I realise it certainly won't be the last time I take part in this wonderful event.

A intelligent waller with skill and good taste.

Another professional waller who we are honoured to have coming to Rocktoberfest this year is Sean Adcock. Along with a lot of other brilliant things, Sean is a Master Craftsman and an instructor with the DSWA in Great Britain. He also runs the Welsh branch of the association.

After having only an email acquaintance with Sean at first, we finally met up in Ventura at a Stone Symposium where he and I were presenting. We had breakfast together several times during that week and discovered we had some rather quirky similarities, like being lovers of marmite.

Relaxing and stacking on the beach.

Sean and I kept in contact and the next year after attending our second symposium in California we collaborated on a dry stone greenhouse near Mendocino. During that time working together and struggling with the structural dynamics of the thing I designed, I really came to appreciate Sean's sense of humour and his warm regard for his fellow wallers.

In his bio he rather humbly talks about having judged and competed in a number of walling competitions. Not at the same time of course. It turns out he has won and placed in many competitions, some of which are listed here.
 Competitions

He also produces a DSWA Branch magazine called "Stonechat",  an eclectic and very informative publication about dry stone walling. That can be found here. http://www.dswales.org.uk/Stonechat.html  It turns out he researched and wrote the technical leaflet "Specifications for Traditional Welsh Cloddiau" for the DSWA . He wrote the update for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers"Dry Stone Walling: A Practical Guide". Copies of both publications should  be available at this year's festival.

Sean has been from Waen Penisarwaen Caernarfon Gwynedd (that's Wales) for quite some time but his cockney accent gives hints of a previous life somewhere back amidst the crowded metropolis of London town.  If I remember correctly I think he said he grew up there, got a good education, did well in math especially and figured he was destined to be a Savile Row banker. I'm sure if fate hadnt stepped in the world would have been robbed of one Britain's finest wallers, certainly Wales. Part of that fate has to do with Brenda his wife who you will meet when you come to the festival.

As I said before its Sean's humour that is so wonderful. He wins you over. He is not afraid to laugh at himself.

His mind for math, his constant analyzing keeps him always pondering the intricacies and rather demanding aspects of walling. He isnt just a thinker though. He effectively combines a comprehensive understanding of the intellectual physics of walling with the great speed and skill required for the physical aspects involved in proper walling too. 

The walls of Catesby House show off Sean's skill as a precise waller.

Sean researches everything. He is a well documented guy. Stonechat, now 24 th issues in total  tackles many of the techniques, paradoxes, complexities and idocyncracies of walling around the world.

He is just as comfortable with irregular shaped stone.

 Sean instructed the building of the Welsh-style section 

of symposium workshop wall at Ventura California last January

We look forward to having him come and help us with our unique amphitheatre project at Rocktoberfest and any other dry stone walling conundrums we can throw his way. 

To link with another version of Sean's Stonechat site via DSWA.org go to

http://www.dswa.org.uk/north-wales-g.asp

Our Norman

Norman Haddow is a professional dry stane diker who we Canadian wallers are very fond of. He has been coming to this country for the last 9 years bringing his special brand of good cheer and dry stone walling expertise. Each Rocktoberfest he travels here and helps out by instructing a beginners workshop or working with volunteers on a special festival project. Even the name 'Rocktoberfest' was Norman's suggestion for our annual October walling celebration.

It seems every time he comes here he makes new friends, wallers and non-wallers too, who always look forward getting to meet up with him again at subsequent festivals.

Here he is at the 2008 festival teaching a bunch of happy wallers, just one class of many that I'm sure, when he returns to visit these workshop walls, he treasures and remembers each new friend he made there while making the wall. It was his idea to put a bottle containing the names of all the students on a piece of paper in the wall they were building. I would have to go back and take the stones apart to find it to remember all their names.

Here he is again at the 2007 Rocktoberfest with the Ancient Music Trio standing in front of the 'sheep sheer' installation he oversaw the building of during the three days of this event in Garden Hill. He told me he really enjoys having live music playing while he is working. The trio has played for us almost every festival that we've had since 2003 and will again be playing for us on Sunday during our build sessions at Rocktoberfest at Hart House Farm, so I'm sure Norman will once more enjoy his musical walling holiday experience when he gets here.

If you can make it out to this year's event I'm sure you too will enjoy meeting Norman. The festival is at 15911 Creditview Road near Caledon Ontario and runs from October 7th to the 10th